Commercial Real Estate Finance

Archive for the ‘People’ Category

These days, among all construction sites, stalled developments are sure to outnumber active ones. As Daniel Dirscherl, general manager at Hunter Roberts Construction Group LLC in Philadelphia, states, “there’s not a lot of large projects. Institutional work is what is out there now – higher ed, health care, and public works.” This is very apparent living in Philadelphia, a city whose downtown is dominated by large ever expanding universities (Penn, Drexel, Temple, and Thomas Jefferson). Alumni support may have gone down in the last couple years, but from an outsider’s perspective universities appear impervious to the economic downturn. Read the rest of this entry »

The Real Deal magazine recently published an article exposing the story of a multi-family leasing broker in NYC who turns out to be a convicted criminal.  Lauren Elkies, the author of the article raises a question that we’ve all asked before: Why is the real estate industry filled with so many crooks and criminals?  We all know someone in every segment of the real estate industry who has been part of a shady operation, be it in their real estate dealings or in a former life or side business.  The most common answer I’ve heard to this question is that it does not take a lot of brains to be in the commercial real estate business.  Whether you are a leasing/sales broker, a financier, property manager, or investor, the contention is that real estate deals are relatively straight forward, and therefore, anyone and everyone can be a participant in the industry.  While it may be true that we’re all boneheads (that’s for you AB), I disagree that this is really why our industry is crawling with thugs and delinquents.

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A couple of days ago the top trending topic on Twitter was “#4wordsbeforedeath” meaning if you had 4 words to say before you died, what would they be? (for those of you who don’t follow us on Twitter, find us @llenrockgroup) Llenrock’s 4 words were “buy low, sell high.” Someone who truly lives by this common phrase is Barry Sternlicht, the “King of Hotels.” Mr. Sternlicht capitalized on the back end of the Savings and Loan Crisis by amassing capital and purchasing properties the government was auctioning off. It is also said that the real estate market is cyclical, and Mr. Sternlicht is counting on this principle as he has, once again, begun to buy up real estate. Read the rest of this entry »

About a year ago we dedicated an entire week’s worth of posts to famed Analyst Meredith Whitney. As a quick refresher, she was responsible for “the call” on Citi, where she (almost prophetically) predicted that Citi was in serious trouble. Following a quick rise to fame, she was subsequently dubbed the “Oracle of Wall Street.” She left her job at Oppenheimer and started her own advisory firm: Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, LLC (rolls off the tongue, no?). She even made Forbes.com’s Best Analysts: Stock Pickers list. Her new advice: avoid anything related to the financial industry. Read the rest of this entry »

I was going through my business cards the other day and came to a stunning observation.  Commercial real estate has to be the leading industry  with the most powerful sounding titles.  Think about it: President, Partner, Principal, Chairman, Managing Director, Regional Manager, Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, Vice President, Assistant Vice President, Director, Senior Director, Executive Managing Director, Managing Member, Executive Director, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Investment Officer, Managing Partner, Associate, Senior Associate, Analyst, Senior Analyst and Managing Principal.  I just named 25 different titles from my friggen business cards…..and that’s not to mention the fact that you could add a preposition and a noun to make half those titles even longer and more pretentious (i.e. director of finance or senior vice president of business development).  So why all the names?  Do the names even mean anything? Read the rest of this entry »

Barry Howard, Esquire
Chief Compliance Officer
BPG Properties, Ltd.

As Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, Barry Howard is responsible for ensuring that BPG’s funds comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Prior to joining BPG in 1984, Mr. Howard was a partner in the real estate group of Dechert Price & Rhoads, a Philadelphia law firm. Mr. Howard is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and holds a B.S. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Howard was a real estate advisor to the Executive Committee, Investment Board of the University of Pennsylvania Endowment. Currently, he is a member of the Standing Committee of Conflicts of Interest and Commitment of Thomas Jefferson University and Co-Chair of the Men’s Initiative for Women’s Way.

Q: As a company, tell me about the niche you have carved out for yourself and how you feel you are different from the competition. Why do you find this product type more appealing than alternative real estate asset classes?

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I’ve become increasingly interested in agricultural investments. Although Farmland makes up only about 1% of institutional real estate investments, it is an asset class that has strong fundamentals. According to research by UBS Agrivest[1], agriculture investments provide:

- Competitive returns with a strong income component

- Low return variability

- Diversification benefits

- Effective hedge against inflation

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Daniel R. Brenna, Jr.
Founder & Principal
Capital Real Estate Group

Daniel Brenna is the principal of Capital Real Estate Group, a real estate development and investment firm in Trenton, New Jersey. Daniel is currently focused on Vista Center, a master planned, mixed-use development at the Trenton Transit Center. The project includes a 25 story office tower located adjacent to the station and over 300 residential units.

He received an MS in Real Estate Development and Investments from New York University and a BS in Industrial and Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Q: As a company, tell me about the niche you have carved out for yourself and how you feel you are different from the competition. Why do you find this product type more appealing than alternative real estate asset classes?

Read the rest of this entry »

First you get the money. Then you get the power. Then you get the women. I believe an inebriated Homer Simpson said that.  And usually that mantra is associated with high powered Wall Street types. We all probably have a friend or two who saw Boiler Room, and wanted to be just like the powder-sniffing, high-flying, lavish-spending stock brokers in that film. But who says real estate guys don’t know how to have fun? Read the rest of this entry »

Jon A. Cummins
Chief Operating Officer
Amerimar Enterprises, Inc.

Jon Cummins is the Chief Operating Officer of Amerimar Enterprises, Inc., a position he has held since 2001. Amerimar’s focus is on the acquisition of “value added” hotels, apartments, office and retail properties in major urban/suburban markets throughout the United States. Mr. Cummins’ primary responsibilities are the general oversight of Amerimar’s operations as well as the sourcing, acquisition, asset management, property management, financing and disposition of the Company’s hotel and multifamily properties. Before joining Amerimar in 1989, Jon worked in the Real Estate Investment Banking Division at Lehman Brothers in New York where he was involved in the placement of debt and equity financing vehicles and the acquisition of property for the firm’s own account.

Q: As a company, tell me about the niche you have carved out for yourself and how you feel you are different from the competition. Why do you find this product type more appealing than alternative real estate asset classes? Read the rest of this entry »